It’s never too late … or is it?

Since my retirement from local television, I have spent some of my time doing football and basketball play-by-play or spending my Saturdays with Bruce Hathaway on Star 810.

But most of my weekdays are spent in the classrooms of various high schools as a substitute teacher. They will remain unnamed for obvious reasons.

I plan to continue describing athletic action this coming season and I’ll consider spending less time in the classrooms in the fall of 2011.

Why? Because the attitude, behavior and respect students displayed in past generations are noticeably absent.

There are very few instances when a student, boy or girl, will actually use the word “Sir” or provide courteous salutations when you fill in for the regular teacher. They seem to feel, in many cases, that you are simply a senior citizen or retired person who has no clue as to what is taking place and there is no reason to pay attention to whatever message the class instructor has left.

In 2010, I blogged a piece saying the best ways to improve classroom discipline was to prohibit cell phones and iPods and for students to wear uniforms as they do in many middle schools and some high schools.

A minority of the students actually recite the Pledge of Allegiance and honor the Texas flag. If you are in a class that includes students who are in ROTC or those in agriculture, they seem to be the most responsive, along with classes containing primarily seniors.

In most instances, if a student has a sibling or parent in the armed forces, they’re more likely to participate

It saddens me because if you research the average age of young Americans during WWII, it would have been in the 18 to 20 year-old range.

About 6,700 GIs, most of them Marines, died on Iwo Jima, a tiny Pacific Island where the Pulitzer Prize winning photo by Joe Rosenthal, showed brave Leathernecks implanting a flag on Mount Suribachi after they had taken the blood soaked isle.

In one geometry class I was asked to “sub” for two days. Sixty percent of the students had cell phones with about half of the classes possessing iPods.

Ten percent were asleep. There was wide spread disrespect when I attempted to conduct the assignments the regular teacher had left.

When taking roll, confidential information is listed on the roster displaying the number of absences and grade average. Of the 84 students in the classes I supervised, 18 were below 70, 41 ranged from 70 to 78, 24 were 80 or above and 11 had an average above 90.

Almost immediately, I could determine the “A” students. They weren’t using cell phones or iPods and weren’t asleep. Overhearing some conversations, four-letter words splotched the classroom … not “math” or “flag” or “here” but the profanity of a drill sergeant’s expletives.

Another day I was assisting in a science class, and not being a science major, I simply monitored students as they worked on the assignment. At least three times, I asked a youth to remove his ball cap. Two others pulled hoods over their heads which is also a restriction.

One youngster was wearing his belt below the bottom of his boxer shorts but it was impossible to convince him to pull up his pants. I found out that he had been sent to the office a few times for similar incidents but it didn’t seem to register that he was in violation of the dress code. Neither did it bother him to threaten him with attendance in ISS (In School Suspension).

As you entered the room a poster had this message “Desire; Discipline; Dedication.” I thought to myself; “That was true at Iwo Jima, but it sure doesn’t work in many of today’s classrooms.”

Don’t blame teachers. It starts long before these young people attend their first class. Respect, discipline, attitude and character are formed when kids are old enough to understand what “no” means. The foundation is poured when they toddle from the high chair to the playpen.

What was that education campaign? “No Child Left Behind.”

Perhaps a child’s behind should have felt a little pat to establish discipline and behavior.

In my 9th year as a substitute, I have noticed a drastic decay of student behavior. Mothers don’t supervise a daughter’s dress before she leaves for school. A father doesn’t sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk with “Johnny” explaining consequences for poor grades and unacceptable actions.

The family unit is disappearing. Church attendance is diminishing and patriotism is dissolving. I submit a prayer to the Lord every day to be with this wonderful nation and our young people who are the future.